


put me in my place

by bangtan_style



Category: Infinite (Band)
Genre: Break Up, Established Relationship, Fake Marriage, Happy Ending, M/M, a lot of random swearing, but a different kind of fake marriage than normal, everyone is a mess, except then it is, gratuitous use of parenthesis, lapslock, this is not healthy communication, unnecessary angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-23
Updated: 2017-01-23
Packaged: 2018-09-19 15:09:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9446948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bangtan_style/pseuds/bangtan_style
Summary: sunggyu + woohyun kind of break up but everyone thinks they're just repressing their feelings (no au)alternative title:"that's gay," woohyun says.





	

**Author's Note:**

> hi I've been working on this on and off (mostly off) since august and I no longer understand what I have done.
> 
> 1\. the phone calls just show one side of the conversation
> 
> 2\. it's all in chronological order except the very first part, which actually takes place near the end of the story. you'll be able to tell where it fits in because it continues on the same day.
> 
> 3\. controversial opinion: I liked how this looked center-aligned. another controversial opinion: myungsoo is a big crybaby
> 
> bg music: [short playlist](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd0R3SYv7zqNAk8OPvso-CWt4WwqMw-g6) (none is required but i stole the plot from "blue" and the title from "good grief")

I. ONE DAY BEFORE

woohyun hardly ever makes the best decisions.

the decision that got him into this mess, for example, was  _definitely_ a bad one. the decision not to take back what he said has also been pretty bad so far. and the decision to try to fix it may be the worst one yet.

it could just ruin his life entirely. (not to be dramatic, but he kind of feels like it's ruined already. or, more specifically, that he's ruined it.)

or sunggyu might take pity on him and take him back.

but probably not. he might as well just start learning to accept it, honestly.

he calls his mom. they talk for two hours - more than he's spoken with sunggyu in the past two weeks. he tells her yes, he's been eating well (mostly true), he's still getting along with everybody (partly false), and everything has been smooth sailing (a big fat lie.)

"so I kind of got fake married," he says to break the brief pause in conversation.

"no- mom, it's okay, it's  _fake_. the members tricked me into it."

"because they were worried about me,  _apparently_."

"I know, I know."

"no."

"no!"

"nothing's  _wrong_ , they're just-"

"no, stay home- they just fake married me to someone. it's cool, it was funny. I only brought it up because-"

"does it matter?"

"I guess. okay, it was sunggyu hyung."

"that's what I told them! they don't even know what happened! but of course they never listen to me. and now I'm in a fake loveless marriage.  _and_ hyung ate the ring! mom, how could they do this to me?"

"yeah, I know it's not. not the point, either."

"I'm fine, they're just so annoying sometimes. although me being annoying started this. no, don't  _agree_ with me, oh my god."

"no."

"no."

"yes, but-"

" _mom_ -"

"okay."

"of course I regret it."

* * *

II. FIFTEEN DAYS BEFORE

"woohyunie, I know you're awake."

he feels cold fingers slip under the blanket and his shirt, trying to tickle him, but he resolutely keeps his eyes shut. he twists around, trying to get away, but the fingers keep following after him.

"wake up," sunggyu sing-songs.

"you're happy today," woohyun mumbles.

sunggyu stops trying to tickle him. his fingers slow to a gentle rubbing motion on his side. "maybe I just woke up on the right side of the bed."

"but the wall is on the right side."

"perspective, woohyun.  _perspective._ "

he decides to open his eyes and sit up, finally. "that sounds like advice you foolishly paid money for. sungyeol's gonna be mad when he finds out you went to a fortune-teller without him."

"what?" sunggyu laughs. "I don't believe in that stuff. although now that you mention it, today does feel like the right day."

he contemplates laying back down, but his rational side - the one that reminds him not to be late - wins, so he stands up instead. "for what?" he asks, pulling his shirt off in one smooth motion.

"well, you know." sunggyu looks almost shy when woohyun looks over at him for the first time that day. "maybe telling the others. about me and you, I suppose."

woohyun focuses on digging through his clothes as he processes those words. it helps him shove away the panic beginning to bubble in the back of his throat. "why?"

"why not?"

"a  _million_ reasons."

"like?"

"like if this gets out to the public, there's no taking it back. why do the other members need to know, anyway?" he finally picks a shirt and throws it on.

"it affects them too," sunggyu insists. he's right, but woohyun still shakes his head. "it's not right to keep a secret like this from them. you told you mom."

"because she's my  _mom_." woohyun sighs and turns around to face him.

"by now, they're like family, too. I don't like keeping this from them."

woohyun crosses his arms loosely, protectively. "they might not be so  _accepting_. this is our careers we're talking about. all of ours."

"they pretty much know, anyway." sunggyu runs a hand through his hair. "it'll just be confirming."

the shuts woohyun up and makes him feel even more miserable. does sunggyu think he can't control himself? that it's obvious no matter how hard he works to keep people from noticing?

"only because we've lived together for so long," sunggyu adds, likely registering the expression on the other's face. "you know they joke about it, it wouldn't be that much of an adjustment for them..."

"it's still different from the real thing. aren't things fine the way they are? isn't it in our best interest - for  _all_ of us - to keep quiet?"

they've migrated closer as they've been talking, and woohyun realizes this with a start when sunggyu lifts his hands and cups woohyun's face.

"no. not really," sunggyu says gently. "I think it'll be easier at home if we don't need to hide."

woohyun steps back out of his hands. "well if it's so  _hard_ then why are you still with me? then you won't have  _any_ secrets to hide!" the words hurt him even as he says them.

sunggyu's just as shocked as he is. "I didn't mean it like that," he whispers."

"but leaving me would solve this whole problem, wouldn't it?" woohyun shrugs and he's not sure why he's responding this way. maybe his brain hasn't caught up with his mouth yet. maybe he doesn't even have a brain.

"no it wouldn't," sunggyu scoffs. "that's a ridiculous idea."

"of course everything  _I_ want is ridiculous."

"wait, you... do you want me to?"

and woohyun fucking lies, he swallows the  _no, not ever_ and says, "yes, I want you to go."

sunggyu gapes as him. "what?"

"don't make me say it again."

"like you actually mean that?"

woohyun doesn't respond, doesn't even look at him, so sunggyu continues. "what good does that do? just giving up? why are you doing this?"

"you're not happy and I can't give you what you want," woohyun says simply. "it's for the best."

"what the  _fuck_." sunggyu starts toward him but changes his mind, going toward the door instead. "I can't think about this right now. hurry up and get ready before you're late."

and then he leaves.

"it's for the best," woohyun repeats to himself.

* * *

III. TWELVE DAYS BEFORE

they're still tense, three days later, and sunggyu does his damndest to not even speak to him at all, even avoiding him altogether whenever possible. he leaves the room when woohyun's in it and puts earbuds in when they're alone in their room.

(he said  _I can't think about this right now_ but apparently he meant  _at all_ and the only thing that keeps woohyun going is that he never said  _fine, we're over_.)

but woohyun tries to talk to him anyway.

"I'm going to the store; do you want anything?" is met with silence.

so is "the sunset is really pretty today" and "hey, I just saw a t-rex outside!! go look!" (that last one makes sunggyu's lips twitch upward ever so slightly, but he turns his head away. woohyun doesn't think that one counts as a response.)

so instead, woohyun learns to get the other members to relay his messages.

"sungjongie, ask sunggyu hyung if he wants anything from the store." (sungjong rolls his eyes and says, "let's just go to the store already.")

"hoya, tell sunggyu hyung he's being childish." (hoya actually does it and returns laughing. "he's really pissed off, he didn't even say anything to me either. what the hell did you even do?" woohyun shrugs.)

"dongwoo hyung, can you ask sunggyu hyung to pass the salt?" (sunggyu's eyes snap up to meet his across the table and they just stare at each other for something along the lines of an entire minute, woohyun blinking innocently. finally sunggyu looks away and pushes the salt container toward him. dongwoo looks sadly between the two of them, not saying a word.)

(he didn't even need the salt, and if he had then he would normally have reached and grabbed it himself. likely it was transparent of him, but he just wanted an excuse to say his name.)

some time after dinner, myungsoo corners woohyun in the bathroom while he's brushing his teeth.

"I'm kind of... worried." myungsoo looks down at his feet.

"what about?" woohyun manages with a toothbrush in his mouth.

"you?"

woohyun finishes up before turning to face him. "what for?"

"you're fighting."

"I'm fighting myself?" woohyun jokes (stalls.)

"and sunggyu hyung."

"it'll all blow over soon," woohyun promises emptily.

"are you sure?" myungsoo asks, looking, well, unsure.

"absolutely! everything will be back to normal in no time." woohyun notices hoya hovering outside the door. he makes a face at him.

hoya makes a face back. "your drama is fun. nothing ever happens around here."

woohyun punches his arm as he passes by. (he knows it's hoya's way of covering up his concern, but that doesn't make it any less annoying.)

* * *

IV. TEN DAYS BEFORE

the next person to bring it up directly is hoya.

woohyun knows dongwoo tries a sneaky, off-hand approach to get information - "how are you feeling, woohyunie? do you want help cleaning your room? do you think sunggyu hyung is coming down with a cold?" - but he more or less brushed every question off. he figures he could stand to apologize for disregarding his attempts at helping, but today, he can't bring himself to do more than sit around and play a game on his phone.

hoya, though, has a mission. he flops down on the ground next to woohyun and peers over his shoulder to look at his game. "I can never get the hand of that game," he starts.

"it does take a while," woohyun admits.

"speaking of..." hoya leans back against the couch behind them. "been hard to adjust to this whole... ex thing."

woohyun hits pause on the game. "ex thing?" he has a feeling he doesn't really want to know, after all, but hoya's gonna tell him anyway.

"you and sunggyu," he clarifies.

and there it is, the piece of information he didn't need to know. woohyun grips his phone tighter than he probably should. staring at it, he whispers, "he's not my-" the words threaten to strangle him, but he forces it out, "fucking ex."

hoya quirks an eyebrow, not that woohyun notices. "uh... it was just a joke? I'm not sure what else to call whatever you guys are doing right now."

"don't even say it as a joke." woohyun turns on hoya, who scoots a little away from him for his own safety. "we wouldn't..." he trails off, shaking his head. he pockets his phone and leaves.

"okay... good talk," hoya tells the thin air.

* * *

V. EIGHT TO SEVEN DAYS BEFORE

today, woohyun makes another terrible mistake.

it isn't planned, just the same as nearly every other terrible mistake he's ever made. it was just a moment of weakness, really. (what he tells himself in hindsight.)

they get to bed very early that night (and for them this means very late at night, when it hasn't yet spilled over into the earliest hours of the next day.)

hoya's fucking  _ex_ comment hasn't left his head, and he's always been weak for sunggyu (even when they compete, even when they fight each other, he still wants his approval. still desperate for his affection. yeah, he's weak for him, alright.)

the lights are already out and sunggyu's climbed into bed by the time woohyun retires to their room. "sunggyu hyung?" he whispers, despite knowing sunggyu won't respond. it doesn't hurt to try. well, it hurts him that sunggyu still prefers silence, but it doesn't  _stop_ him.

and too bad it doesn't stop him from crawling into sunggyu's bed and laying on top of the blanket so sunggyu can't escape.

his voice is a little rough when he asks what woohyun's trying to do.

"just got a quick question," woohyun says lightly.

"really."

"yup. first, I totally get that you need some space right now-" (sunggyu snorts) "the current situation not included, but it's kind of hard to wait so long with no response. you get that, right?"

"is that your question?"

"nope!

"can you cut to the chase then?"

woohyun swallows thickly. "do you still like me?"

he can't make out sunggyu's expression, but it's probably nothing he wants to see, anyway.

"right now, not really, no."

expected - but his heart still hurts as bad as ever.

"but I still, you know, love you, it's not like that... don't think too hard about it okay?"

"okay," woohyun says. "thanks."

"now can you go sleep in your own bed?"

"not really, no." the only reason woohyun repeats what sunggyu said is that those words are rattling around in his head, stuck up in there somewhere. they'll stay in his head a while yet, maybe until sunggyu takes them back.

"funny. move over, then, so I can leave."

"wait..."

"seriously, woohyun?"

"don't go?" he tries.

sunggyu snorts again, but - kindly, or maybe he's just too tired to care - doesn't point out the irony. "alright, alright. but get off my blanket."

woohyun cooperates and sunggyu manages to get it over both of them. neither move closer, despite the already limited space, and they aren't touching when woohyun manages to fall asleep. (even so, he's warmer than he has been in a while.)

they still aren't touching in the morning, as it turns out when woohyun wakes up to find sunggyu sleeping in woohyun's bed, having moved there at some point in the night.

he shouldn't have expected anything else, if he had expected anything at all, but damn ok that still kind of hurts.

* * *

VI. SIX DAYS BEFORE

the day after that, woohyun wakes up alone again. he's been doing that a lot lately. (well, of course he has.) it's very early, and he's been doing that a lot as well.

he finds sunggyu pretty quickly, though - or maybe it's just that sunggyu finds him, because when they bump into each other, sunggyu says, "oh, you're up."

"yeah, I do that now and again." woohyun shrugs.

"sorry. what I meant was I made you food."

"no thanks."

"I made you  _food_."

"what if you poison me? I can't take that chance." woohyun cracks a smile.

"just eat it," sunggyu grumbles. "you know we aren't like that."

it convinces woohyun to sit down at the table with him. obviously it was a trick though because he starts talking to him almost as if nothing had happened.

or maybe it's a dream. huh. woohyun pinches himself under the table to make sure.

"woohyun?"

he looks back up at him. sunggyu's head is tilted a little; it looks cute on him and woohyun kind of really wants to die a little bit because he can't even kiss him, what the fuck, why did he break up with him. "what?"

"I was trying to talk to you?"

"oh, sorry. I just woke up." woohyun looks back down at the table and sunggyu stops. fucking. talking to him.

woohyun just loves to always ruin his mood, doesn't he?

"why did you do that?" he asks suddenly, not long after sunggyu stopped trying to get a real response out of him.

"do what?" sunggyu sighs heavily.

"that thing you did. two nights ago." woohyun tries to keep the whine out of his voice but he's not sure it's working.

"you mean that thing  _you_ did?"

"you said you love me..."

"so what? you asked."

"but you haven't told me that before. and then you  _left_."

sunggyu looks unimpressed.

" _again_ ," woohyun tries.

sunggyu crosses his arms. "I never said I would. I just need some time to think. you said you knew that."

"I say a lot of things..."

"don't you know how much you hurt me?"

"no, you never really told me how you felt..."

"you're the one keeping secrets here, not me." sunggyu stands up and pushes his chair back against the table. "why can't-"

myungsoo chooses that moment to walk into the room, yawning and scratching his stomach. his unfortunate timing cuts sunggyu's probably very enlightening would-be rant short.

he redirects to poor myungsoo. the previous conversation is over.

"what. what could you possibly need right now?" sunggyu asks dryly.

"I...I'm good, actually," myungsoo responds, voice weak and rough from sleep. he goes back the way he came from, walking backward and everything.

"well, I'm done," sunggyu mutters. "I'm going out."

"where?" woohyun wants to ask. "when are you coming back?"

he doesn't ask.

* * *

VII. INTERMISSION (SAME DAY)

myungsoo stops him while he's throwing his shoes on.

"hyung?" he starts tentatively.

"oh, myungsoo. it's not you I'm mad at. I shouldn't have said that..." sunggyu trails off, hoping he hears the apology.

myungsoo shrugs it off. "he cares about you a lot, you know."

"some way to show it."

"he's not that smart."

sunggyu sighs. "yup. see you later, myungsoo."

* * *

VIII. FIVE DAYS BEFORE

it's not been a full day since he saw sunggyu last. 18 hours and 7 minutes, if anyone's keeping track. (woohyun is. don't tell anyone this secret.)

the clock strikes midnight. the other members are crowded together in the living room, everyone lively and drinking and eating despite the late hour, all except.

well. except for woohyun.

and sunggyu, who still hasn't shown his face since the previous morning.

and it's making woohyun  _kind of_ , maybe suffer a little. a lot. of drinks. he's had a lot of drinks already.

"you're no fun lately," hoya whines, pouring him... yet another shot. "fucking relax, man.  _chill_."

"no." woohyun doesn't even touch the drink this time. "I'll just go to bed, thanks."

"you're just not drunk enough yet," sungyeol says. "hey! maybe if you get alcohol poisoning, sunggyu hyung will actually look at you for once."

woohyun looks down at his shot and shrugs. he downs it. "I'm drunk enough to think that's a good idea. that's sad. stop giving drunk me ideas, bastard. sober me is gonna be so mad."

sungjong pats his back wordlessly. "sober you is already going to be mad, assuming he recovers from this hangover."

"you're sad," sungyeol shoots back childishly. it sinks in. "okay, that's... not much of an insult at this point, I will admit..."

"hey, let's stop making fun of him. we're throwing this party to make him feel better," dongwoo says, mouth stuffed with chips.

"yeah, woohyunie here is going through a very hard time right now," hoya says in a weird voice. then in his normal voice, he adds, "resolve your tension already. god."

woohyun almost knocks over one of the bottles while reaching for it. "what tension?" he laughs uncomfortably. "there's nothing going on... it's just an argument, guys."

the others stare at him.

"yeah sure, and sungjong can drive," sungyeol says.

"hey! I can drive!" sungjong protests loudly.

"no you can't, sweetie." dongwoo puts his hand on sungjong's shoulder. at woohyun, he says, "we want to help you."

"I'm just here for the drama," hoya announces unhelpfully, stealing the last kimbap.

"I wanted that," myungsoo whines.

"I'm going to bed." woohyun stands up unsteadily.

"no fun," hoya repeats.

"fuck off," woohyun says.

"GUYS, THERE'S A FUCKING VAPOREON OUTSIDE!" sungyeol screams suddenly.

"HOLY SHIT!" myungsoo whips out his phone and opens pokémon go.

"DIBS, THOUGH," sungyeol adds.

suddenly there's chaos, everyone pushing each other to get out the door first, phones in hands, previous topics forgotten.

woohyun lets them, yawning and walking... somewhere. he's not that sure. he runs into something and gets down on his hands and knees, fully intending to just crawl under the whatever, because this is what you do, obviously, when you hit an impasse. hands and knees. always works. he finds the floor to be pleasingly cool, so he lays down on his stomach, one side of his face pressed against the tiles, and falls asleep to the sound of the others screaming drunkenly outside.

* * *

IX. LATER THAT DAY

woohyun wakes up under the kitchen table. the first thing he registers is the smell of coffee. he mumbles something incoherent and tries to get out from under the table. he manages to only hit his head once before he succeeds.

"morning," myungsoo whispers, in the process of getting every single mug they own (a grand total of seven) out.

woohyun drops himself into a chair and puts his hands over his eyes. "why."

"sorry, I'll turn the lights off."

one gloriously silent, dim minute passes. then: "sunggyu hyung came back this morning," myungsoo mentions, managing to sound off-hand but really he's gotta know what kind of shit that's doing to woohyun. honestly. "he must've been the one who put that blanket on you."

"oh great, because I need him to see me passed out under the table. that doesn't reek of desperation." woohyun pauses. "wait, blanket?"

"look." myungsoo points to the floor under the table. "isn't that his? the pillow, too."

he does. "well, would ya look at that." he grabs them, throws the blanket over his shoulders, puts the pillow on the table, and shoves his face in it.

"the rest of us ended up on the floor, too. no blanket." myungsoo pokes woohyun in the back until he puts his head up and takes the coffee myungsoo offers. "he sure loves you, huh."

"myungsoo..."

"yes?"

"how much did you hear yesterday?"

myungsoo doesn't respond immediately. he pours another cup of coffee before slowly saying, "enough... or maybe all of it."

"you'd better not tell the others." woohyun burns his damn mouth on the coffee. "especially not sungyeol."

"I don't get it, though. why can't you just be together already? you both like each other. what's wrong?" he leans toward woohyun, sudden intensity kind of scaring him. "you said not to tell anybody but we all know anyway, even though you didn't say anything."

"you guys don't know shit. and anyway, I don't want to talk about this. thinking bad. why are you even awake?"

myungsoo sighs, likely making a mental note to interrogate sunggyu later. "I didn't really drink last night and it's like noon. why are  _you_?"

woohyun points to his mug instead of answering.

"fair."

momentarily, the others begin to trickle into the kitchen.

"you're my favorite," sungyeol says as soon as he sees myungsoo at the coffee machine. myungsoo gives him a pleased smile along with a mug.

hoya doesn't bother trying to speak, lest it give away the fact that he isn't actually awake. the silent act he puts on at least gives the guise of being calm and collected. he tries so hard to look cool, please give him credit for that at least.

sungjong's shirt is inside out (and backward) for some reason. no one tells him. he'll find out eventually.

dongwoo practically skips into the kitchen shortly after sungjong. "woohyun! do you feel better?"

hoya slaps his hands over his ears. even myungsoo, hangover-less and rested, winces at the sudden increase in the general volume of their surroundings.

"no," woohyun mutters into his coffee. he spits the sip he just took back into the cup when he sees sunggyu following dongwoo into the kitchen.

dongwoo apparently doesn't hear him because he goes on to ask, at the same volume, "why do you have a blanket out here?"

sunggyu and woohyun lock eyes.

"because I'm hyung's favorite," woohyun says cheekily.

"what? n-no you're not. I just." sunggyu looks around like he'll find an excuse laying around. "thought you looked dumb."

"you take care of me so well," woohyun continues.

sunggyu doesn't respond this time, and it inspires woohyun to keep going and really lay it on thick.

"you're always there for me, you're so thoughtful and patient..."

"since when!" sunggyu rolls his eyes and heads back to his room, hands coffee-free but oh well. he should go back to sleep anyway. it's still way too early for this shit.

woohyun trails after him, trying to carry everything at once. "hyung, I'm not done yet!"

sunggyu walks off.

"don't you want your blanket back at least?"

* * *

X. INTERMISSION

myungsoo watches woohyun run after their leader (or stumble determinedly, whichever is more flattering.) (probably neither.)

"well, that was... that sure was a thing," sungjong says helpfully.

"I'm so confused," sungyeol says. "is woohyun still drunk? or am I?"

"it's called symbolism, I think," dongwoo says.

"no, it's definitely metaphor," myungsoo contributes. he's pretty sure he's got the right word. "he was using metaphors to-"

hoya loudly crunches his popcorn.

"how did nobody notice you made popcorn?" sungyeol asks incredulously, sort of in awe.

hoya winks magically, still crunching the shit outta that popcorn.

"gimme." sungyeol reaches out.

"no way."

"guys, forget the popcorn," myungsoo says loudly. "we have a wedding to plan."

"wait, whose?" hoya accidentally spits popcorn out on the table in his shock.

"gross," sungjong frowns.

"sorry, sungjongie."

"theirs! sunggyu hyung and woohyun hyung!"

"I'm not sure what's going on in your head, but that  _definitely_ wasn't a proposal just now. are you sure you're not the still-drunk one?" sungyeol says.

"I'm not drunk," myungsoo says, confused.

"okay, myungsoo. there's one tiny problem, though," sungjong says.

"what?"

"they currently hate each other," dongwoo says for him.

"that wasn't a display of hatred just then," hoya says.

"right, they don't hate each other. they just..." myungsoo thinks really hard for a moment. "need to realize their true feelings. then they can get married and we can be one big happy family again."

"wow, you're scary." hoya stuffs his face again. "I'm in, though."

"it  _has_ been a really long time coming," sungyeol says thoughtfully.

* * *

XI. INTERMISSION END

"you always do so much for me. and the other members. and I never really do anything for you. I don't do shit," woohyun says from outside their closed door, hoping sunggyu is listening, and that he's making any coherent sense at all.

he drinks more coffee because that shit's good, what did myungsoo put in this? cupcakes and rainbows?

"and I never give you what you want. and I don't deserve you, okay? so there."

there's no sound from inside the room, so woohyun turns around and goes to dongwoo and myungsoo's room. they probably won't care if he crashed in their room. (and crash he does. he falls asleep with sunggyu's scent in his nose from the blanket.)

* * *

XII. LATER THAT DAY

woohyun wakes up a few hours later, still not really rested but also not completely dead inside, which is a vast improvement. sleeping somewhere soft probably helped. he stretches and his arm hits a body. he opens his eyes real fucking fast.

"you're not sunggyu hyung" is the first thing is brain provides him with. it's only luck (and/or the current lack of motor skills due to just waking up) that he doesn't actually say it out loud. (not that it matters. dongwoo is fast asleep anyway.)

woohyun gets up, combing through his hair with his fingers. he actually feels pretty decent, physically, all things considered. that coffee probably was magical after all. he'd always suspected myungsoo is actually some type of woodland creature.

they all go out to dinner together that night, upon hoya's request/demand.

"meat meat meat meat," he and sungyeol chant in unison, leading the group to their destination.

sunggyu and sungjong hang back a little from the rest of the group and woohyun doesn't even look behind him one single time. (he's so proud of himself for his self-restraint. woohyun 1, orpheus 0.) instead, he walks with an arm around dongwoo's shoulder, chatting his ears off, most probably. (he wouldn't know.)

at the restaurant, myungsoo and sungyeol sit in between woohyun and sunggyu. this escapes woohyun's notice. myungsoo elbows sungyeol after they all order. (which he knows because sungyeol loudly goes, "why did you elbow me, you nerd?")

"come with me to the bathroom," myungsoo says.

"need help powdering your nose?" sungyeol jokes.

"I'll pee on you. hurry up." myungsoo elbows him again.

"okay, okay. sheesh."

woohyun is at the end of the bench so he gets up to let them out. that's when he realizes he just got played.

"I will destroy you, kim myungsoo," he swears in his mind. then he sits down exactly where he was sitting before, at the very edge of the seat because he's a fucking adult and is allowed to be petty if he wants to, thanks very much.

the troublemakers come back in a few minutes and by then, woohyun is busy engaging hoya in an overly complicated conversation comparing digimon versus pokémon. (we won't force you to listen to their drivel. it's for the best.)

"move the fuck over." sungyeol shoves woohyun without a warning, successfully pushing him all the way into sunggyu.

"sungyeol," sunggyu warns.

"sunggyu," sungyeol mimics. "make room."

* * *

XIII. INTERMISSION (SAME DAY)

nothing else dramatic happens the entire time at the restaurant, other than hoya accidentally spilling his water and blaming it on woohyun.

myungsoo walks with sunggyu on the way back, everyone else forgetting about them. or not bothering them, at least. myungsoo does notice woohyun looking back once or twice, though. he waves but gets ignored.

"so..." myungsoo tries to sound conversational, and it seems to work because sunggyu looks at him expectantly. "can I ask you something confidential?"

he immediately frowns. "how confidential?"

"you and woohyun?"

"no thanks. ask him."

"hyung, please. he brushed me off, too." myungsoo grabs sunggyu's jacket sleeve.

"he did, huh?" sunggyu's frown deepens, if at all possible.

"you'll get wrinkles." myungsoo's other hand pokes sunggyu's face, forcing one side of his mouth upward.

it works well enough; sunggyu laughs and pushes him. they walk quietly until the sidewalk breaks, stopping to wait for cars to pass on the road. "look, it's not my decision. if I can tell you, or anyone, I mean."

"so it's his decision?"

"yeah, I guess."

"why?"

"that's what caused all of this. he didn't want to tell anybody, so now there's no secret." he sounds like he's repeating something he heard once.

"I know you like each other, though. we all do. just the members, I mean."

sunggyu pinches myungsoo's ear. "I figured you did. but it's not what you think. stop asking me. ask him."

they don't talk for the rest of the walk, but myungsoo keeps his hand on sunggyu's arm. the others get so far ahead, they can no longer see them anymore.

at the door, myungsoo tells him, "you're wrapped around his finger."

"shut up," sunggyu says.

* * *

XIV. THREE DAYS BEFORE

woohyun wakes up today with an inexplicable sense of foreboding.

"time to suffer, I'm sure," he thinks, picking his ass up off the bed.

* * *

XV. INTERMISSION (SAME DAY)

myungsoo wakes up today with a perfectly explicable sense of excitement.

"time to make woohyun hyung suffer," he thinks, awakening immediately one he realizes today is the day.

yesterday, he and the others planned all day long. (okay, mostly they ate chips and argued, but they did manage to pull off something truly impressive. even more impressive when you consider exactly how little time they spent not procrastinating.)

he turns to dongwoo, also in the process of waking up. he holds up a fist. dongwoo bumps their fists together.

"our lives will never be the same again," myungsoo says.

"you'll finally have married parents," dongwoo adds happily.

they literally giggle.

* * *

XVI. INTERMISSION END

nobody can sit still this morning, despite the (apparent) lack of schedule.

hoya's leg won't stop jiggling - "I'm keeping a rhythm," he says when woohyun asks. "keeping in shape for our next comeback. get with the picture, man."

sungjong is apparently trying to keep calm, sitting on the floor reading a magazine, but out of the corner of his eye, woohyun notices him rolling around. okay. whatever. sometimes he does that, too. he respects that. they should be allowed to roll on the floor all day long, if they pleased. he ignores the fact that the magazine is upside down.

worse is dongwoo. he hardly lets go of woohyun, attached to his arm almost constantly, or brushing invisible dust off his shoulders, or fixing his hair again and again - "I have a comb for that, you know," he says after the fifth time. "a honeycomb?" dongwoo jokes.

sungyeol doesn't even look at woohyun, even (especially) when woohyun tries to talk to him. he doesn't acknowledge him at all, even when woohyun starts insulting his face and whatever else. he just burrows deeper into the couch and his paperback novel. (sungyeol ignores people when he has a secret to keep from them. woohyun is 100% onto him. he should open up a detective service.)

the worst by far, though, is myungsoo. that bastard keeps throwing heart eyes in woohyun's direction.

"I don't like you that way," woohyun finally says, putting his nintendo 3ds down.

"good," myungsoo says. he smiles cutely, dimples showing and everything.

"okay..." woohyun goes back to his game.

* * *

XVII. LATER THAT DAY

it all goes to shit around lunch time.

and woohyun was just starting to feel like his sense of doom was wrong, too, even despite how weird everyone was acting.

the first real sign is a knock on the front door. sungyeol shoots up from his spot, ripping his headphones off to go answer it. he comes back with like twelve pizzas, if I had to estimate.

"myungsoo, hurry up!" sungyeol yells. that's sign two.

myungsoo appears and barely looks at sungyeol, instead making a beeline for woohyun. "hey, I have something to show you. in my room. come with me." he grabs woohyun's arm and drags him along, leaving woohyun kind of gaping. myungsoo slams the door shut behind them.

"um," woohyun says. "I still  _really_ don't like you that way?"

"don't worry, hyung," myungsoo says sweetly. he drops his arm and starts rummaging around his room.

"what did you want to show me?" woohyun asks warily.

"it's here somewhere," myungsoo mutters to himself.

woohyun plays with the hem of his pajama shirt while he waits. he tries to sneak back out of the room while myungsoo's back is turned, but myungsoo catches him and gives him a disappointed look, so he just waits.

"here it is!" myungsoo says victoriously, holding up what looks like a photo from a disposable camera. he all but flings it at woohyun.

"what's..." woohyun's words die when he takes a closer look. it's a picture he's in, but he doesn't remember it being taken. it's probably from predebut, by the looks of it. he's got his arms crossed and he's looking somewhere unseen, and sunggyu is standing on the other side, mouth open wide - a good look, woohyun jokes to himself - and obviously in the middle of yelling at him.

woohyun laughs his ass off for a good minute. "who took this?" he asks when he's done cracking up, still smiling.

"me."

"you really kept it this long?" woohyun shakes his head incredulously.

"mhm," myungsoo hums. "figured you'd think it was funny."

"it's hilarious." woohyun stares at the picture in his hands and his smile slips off his face. he doesn't hear myungsoo move, but he feels him rest his chin on his shoulder.

"why are you showing me this right now?" woohyun asks. if his voice shakes, nobody mentions it.

"remember back then?" myungsoo says quietly, since his mouth is next woohyun's ear.

"of course," woohyun says carefully.

"it's not like that anymore."

"you're right. now it's worse," woohyun says grumpily. he drops the photo and myungsoo dives for it.

"it's gonna be okay, hyung," myungsoo insists, righting himself after catching the photo. he steps away to give the other some space and looks down at the photo. "we're gonna help you out."

"well, good luck with that. I've gotten myself into a little tangle." woohyun reaches for the door and myungsoo slaps his hand away. "okay, seriously, what? what's gotten into you?"

"we have to wait for the signal," myungsoo explains. that's the third sign.

* * *

XVIII. INTERMISSION (SAME DAY)

sungyeol lets out a loud huff. "hurry up, dumbass!"

"can't rush perfection," hoya sing-songs, taping up the last streamer.

"why didn't I just do this? I wouldn't even need a step-stool," sungyeol sneers.

"because you're commandeering this ship while myungsoo's busy," sungjong says, in the middle of his own projects.

"true!" sungyeol perks up at the thought. "alright guys, are we ready for phase 2?"

"what was phase 2 again? I thought we already did phase 2," dongwoo says.

"somebody's not very good at being leader, if you've already forgotten," hoya says to sungyeol. "I nominate myself as your replacement."

"shut up. I made a mistake; so sue me. phase 3! where the fuck is sunggyu hyung?" sungyeol snaps his fingers a few times rapidly.

"been in his room all day. I checked like ten minutes ago," dongwoo reports.

"good. go get him. I'll get myungsoo and woohyun. sungjong, you have the rings?"

sungjong pulls them out of his pocket.

"awesome. phase 3 may officially commence!"

* * *

XIX. INTERMISSION END

dongwoo follows sunggyu into the living room just as sungyeol, myungsoo and woohyun enter from a different direction. sunggyu tries to go back, but dongwoo pushes him from behind.

"what are you kids up to?" he asks nervously, eyeing the streamers suspiciously.

"nothin," hoya says, chewing half a piece of pizza.

"stop eating!" sungyeol shouts, exasperated.

"chill, there's still some left for you."

"ugh,  _so_ not the poi-"

"dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness..." myungsoo starts loudly, interrupting sungyeol and getting them all back on track.

"oh, hell no," woohyun objects. sungyeol grabs him, and he tries to fight him off, but fails utterly. sungyeol fights dirty.

"...the union of sunggyu hyung and woohyun hyung in holy matrimony, which is an honorable estate," myungsoo continues, obviously having put his actor's memorization skills to good use. (or maybe he's watched too many dramas.)

"jang dongwoo, if you don't let me go right now, I swear..." sunggyu is in the same position as woohyun, except it's dongwoo's grip he's struggling against. hoya throws his pizza crust at him and sunggyu looks so offended for a moment that hoya laughs in his face and dongwoo manages to get a better hold on him.

"...that is not to be entered unadvisedly or lightly, but  _reverently and soberly._ " myungsoo looks around the room. "anyone drunk?"

"I don't think that's what they mean by soberly," sungjong pipes up. "maybe it means we're not supposed to hold them down?"

"whatever. go ahead and let them go, boys. I don't think they'll be getting away. anyway: in this estate, these two persons present come now to be joined."

the two persons in question are brought to the center of the room, underneath mistletoe hanging from the ceiling light.

"if anyone can show just cause why they may not be lawfully joined together, let them speak now or-"

"yeah, I have a reason or two hundred," sunggyu cuts in.

"me too," woohyun adds quickly.

"don't agree with me," sunggyu snaps.

"so you actually  _do_ want to get married?" woohyun snaps back.

"n-no, that's- stop changing the subject! we  _can't_ get married," sunggyu crosses his newly-freed arms. "whose bright idea was this?"

"not me," everybody in the room says, including woohyun.

"oh, so it was  _my_ idea then?" sunggyu pauses and considers what he just said. "okay... okay this is  _kind of_ funny but can we just stop here?"

"nope," hoya says, popping the 'p.'

"no can do, boss," sungyeol says.

"work with me here." sungjong puts his hands together and shakes them in a dramatic pleading motion.

woohyun leans over and whispers into sunggyu's ear, "play along and they'll give up, right?"

"I guess, but remember this means exactly jack shit," sunggyu whispers back.

"fine by me." woohyun takes a step back. "nevermind," he says to the rest of the room.

"so we are all in agreement?" myungsoo continues, returning to his minister voice. "nobody has any objections?" he narrows his eyes at sunggyu. nobody responds. "good. who gives this man to be married to that other man?"

"uh, I do, I guess," sungyeol says, taking woohyun's arm again.

"why am I the wife?" woohyun pouts.

"you're not either, shut up," sunggyu says.

"okay, say your vows now," dongwoo says.

imagine some crickets chirping or whatever.

"I don't... have any," sunggyu says slowly.

"you don't have any vows on your wedding day?" dongwoo gasps, scandalized.

"the fuck? you sprang this on me."

"so what? just say whatever you want to! I'm sure you've got a lot to say to woohyunie, right?" dongwoo wiggles his eyebrows.

"not really," sunggyu says bluntly.

"wow, rude," woohyun says. "I've got plenty to say to you."

sunggyu shoots him a conflicted look.

"you guys are so boring," hoya interrupts. he shakes the ice around in his cup, trying to get the last bit of liquid from the bottom with a straw. nobody bothers asking him where he got the drink from.

"what were you hoping for? 'oh, woohyun, I've loved you all my life, I'm so glad we're getting married in our pajamas with all these fugly polka-dotted streamers everywhere that I'm probably going to have to bribe sungjong to clean up later'?" sunggyu frowns especially at that last part.

"it's festive," woohyun defends. "and just the right amount of tacky."

"I'm not disagreeing that it's tacky."

"woohyun hyung, your vows?" sungjong prompts. it's then that woohyun notices he's been filming this entire time. woohyun makes the ugliest face he can muster at the camera before turning back to sunggyu.

he takes a deep breath and pauses for dramatic effect. "ditto," he says finally.

"seriously? you can't even come up with your own fake vows? didn't you have a lot to say?"

"yours were shit anyway!"

"why would you steal mine then?"

"sorry, I'll go call the police on myself right away!"

"guys, shut up, seriously. what are you, five?" sungyeol rubs his forehead. "myungsoo, just marry them off already. hopefully they'll go on a honeymoon and leave the rest of us alone."

"you are now pronounced husband times two. you may now kiss each other." myungsoo places his hands on their shoulders.

"not happening," woohyun says.

"oh, what, now you're too good for me?"

"will you stop fighting me? you're being really counterproductive."

hoya starts booing, and the rest of the members follow suit. sungyeol starts hopping (or something?) around them to taunt them.

"what the fuck. stop booing me at my own wedding." woohyun is absolutely appalled.

"don't encourage them," sunggyu hisses under his breath.

"I told them not to, I'm not encouraging anything!"

"good because we're not getting married!"

"oh, of course, it's a halloween party. how could I mistake it? that explains all this booing."

"well yeah, aren't you wearing a halloween mask? or is that just your face?"

"you're way uglier than a halloween mask. worse than frankenstein, even!"

"okay listen, it's frankenstein's  _monster_ , not-"

"you're both ugly! you're perfect for each other," hoya cuts in once again.

hearing him startles woohyun, who'd gotten so caught up in sunggyu speaking to him (bickering, really, but mostly  _playfully_ , as much as it seems like the opposite) and it felt so good, he forgot where he was.

"anyway, I don't even have a ring, so it's obviously not a wedding," sunggyu concludes.

sungjong pulls the rings back out of his pocket and hands one to each "groom." "I got one for both of you. I didn't know what flavor you liked, though."

woohyun looks down at the unopened ring pop in his hands. "this is..." he trails off when he hears sunggyu opening his package. he looks up and sunggyu's bringing his ring toward his mouth.

"NO, DON'T EAT THE RING!" woohyun screams.

sunggyu sticks it in his mouth. "I'M EATING THE RING," he yells back.

* * *

XX. TWO DAYS BEFORE

yesterday, after the... wedding... myungsoo spent the whole rest of the day smiling it up and telling woohyun he's sorry he "had to intervene," and he "just couldn't take it anymore."

today, woohyun considers filling him in on the truth, but he doesn't want to be the one to wipe that smile off his face. let sunggyu hyung do that, he thinks bitterly. (or he can take it to his grave, haha.)

sunggyu isn't there when woohyun gets out of bed, but he's not exactly keen on seeing him yet, either. considering what sunggyu told him about giving him space, he's anything but surprised.

he hangs out in his room most of the day, and sunggyu doesn't enter once. it's fine by him. he wasn't even waiting or anything. he's  _busy_ , reading  _literature,_ which he never has time to do, so obviously he doesn't have time to think about  _sunggyu_. ignore the fact that the only pages he's turned are unread and he doesn't recall a single word.

oh! and he's got  _music_ to listen to. so much to catch up on. ignore the fact that he put the headphones on but didn't turn on any music.

he's startled out of his daze (staring at the book, slowly flipping page by page, totally not thinking about anything other than the invigorating plot, of course) when he hears the front door. figuring he's bored out of his mind anyway and none of his distractions are working, he goes to inspect.

as fate would have it, it's sunggyu - or at least, he's the one standing at the door.

"the, uh... kids... went out," he says by way of greeting.

that word wouldn't have even showed up on either of their radars a month ago, sounding completely normal, but now it hands between them like an anchor.

woohyun chooses to ignore it.

"oh, that makes sense." his voice is rough from not using it all day.

they stand there awkwardly for a few moments.

"what time is it?" woohyun asks.

sunggyu doesn't check his phone. "little after six, I think."

"cool... think I'll make dinner, then?" he almost says it like he's asking permission. not to use the kitchen, but rather to change the day's status quo of staying apart.

sunggyu nods, stepping away so woohyun can pass by, but follows him into the kitchen. as woohyun's inquisitive look, he smiles and says, "can't let you poison me, right?"

"is this a running gag now?" woohyun wonders aloud.

"you started it," sunggyu shrugs.

again, the words hang between them.

"guess you'll just have to come help me out, then."

"...I can do that."

"here, you can cut the vegetables." woohyun finds the ones he needs and sets them on the table. sunggyu nods.

they work in silence until woohyun checks up on him.

"wait, I wanted that diced, not in strips," he laughs.

sunggyu stops mid-cut. "okay... you know what... it's still food either way." he keeps doing his thing.

"also, where did the peppers go?"

"what peppers... you never gave me any peppers." he feigns ignorance.

woohyun laughs, feeling a surge of affection going through him. "okay, okay. thank you for your hard work." he goes back to what he was doing before. the silence feels a little more breathable after.

* * *

XXI. LATER THAT DAY

they go to bed at the same time that night. lately, sunggyu's been waiting until after woohyun's asleep, but this time he apparently doesn't care either way. woohyun does. he's hyperaware of the other's presence. sunggyu walks somewhere behind him, and his neck prickles. they don't speak beyond sunggyu asking if he can turn the lights off.

ten minutes later, woohyun plucks up the courage to speak. "hyung?"

"what?"

"I'm sorry."

"don't do this right now."

"I just wanted to tell you."

"I'm going to sleep now."

woohyun hears him turn over. "okay." he plays with a loose string on his blanket as he lets a few more minutes pass. then he repeats: "hyung?"

"you're not letting me go to bed, are you?" sunggyu grumbles.

"sorry. I thought of something else to tell you."

sunggyu goes, "what is it, then?"

"I love you." the words rush out of his mouth, and his heart pounds hard in his chest. it's nowhere near the first time he said it, but it feels new and scary all the same.

something that feels like an hour passes before he hears sunggyu exhale deeply, and then he feels his bed dip and sunggyu's sitting on the edge of his bed. he sits cross-legged facing him, but woohyun remains laying down.

"why?" he whispers.

woohyun turns and half hides his face in his pillow, not that they can see each other very well in the first place with only a streetlight outside for lighting. "why do I love you?"

sunggyu reaches over and gently begins to play with woohyun's hair. " _that_ was never in question. no, I mean why are you such a jerk?"

"I'm not trying to be," woohyun says carefully.

"what are you then?" his voice turns soft. attentive. he sometimes uses this voice; just when they're alone, and maybe vulnerable.

"scared."

sunggyu lets his hand rest on the side of woohyun's face. "how scared do you think I feel?"

"trick question or no?"

"make a guess."

"I don't know but I think... I'm more scared." his voice is barely audible at this point.

sunggyu taps his cheek, silently asking him to explain.

"you've had your fear come true, right? I found out what was scarier than mine."

"oh."

"I've been thinking. a lot," he confesses quickly. "really I just want to be with you again. plus the not-talking thing is very hard for me to deal with. and I'm lonely and I miss you."

"okay," sunggyu says. brushes the hair out of the other's face. "okay, then. I get it." he gets up, only to slip under the blanket and lay parallel to him. woohyun waits for him to fall asleep first, wanting to savor the experience. the real deal is so much better than a borrowed blanket.

* * *

XXII. ONE DAY BEFORE (AGAIN)

"...and that's what happened," woohyun finishes. of course he hasn't told his mom  _all_ the details - just an overview, and enough so she doesn't ask too many more questions.

"yeah, I don't know."

"maybe."

"mom, I gotta go now, but it was good talking with you, okay?" they say goodbye and hang up. his mother's words bounce around in his head. what are you going to do? why did you do that? have you apologized yet? are you okay?

he turns his phone off and goes back inside the house. myungsoo, sungyeol, and hoya are baking something, all laughing and getting flour literally everywhere - he's pretty sure he's going to be finding flour in random places until the day they move out - but he ignores the urge to nag at them over it. he stands there watching them like he's looking in through a window (not part of the scene, but the scene is so beautiful.)

myungsoo looks up and notices him and says, "they're gonna fuck up the cake."

"what did they do?" woohyun chuckles.

myungsoo launches into a small rant. "well first they tried to use bread flour - where did we even get bread flour, honestly, this is why we go to the store in groups - and then  _sungyeol_ almost put in half a  _tablespoon_ of salt instead of a teaspoon-"

"they both start with t, sue me," sungyeol interjects.

"anyway, please help us, woohyunie hyung," myungsoo finishes. the other two nod.

(it turns out what they really mean by "help" is "do this for me" and when he calls them out on it, they just look at him with big, innocent eyes and he goes, "it'll be done baking in an hour," because he's nothing if not a big sucker for those kids. he remembers the time - really not that long ago - when cake was a luxury and lets them have their fun.)

while it's in the oven, the four of them make frosting. or, well.

woohyun makes frosting.

"I want it to be black," myungsoo says.

"well, I want it to be rainbow," sungyeol announces, just because it's the opposite of what myungsoo wanted.

"that's gay," woohyun says.

"oh, yeah? well, you're literally married to another man, so," sungyeol responds. "case closed."

woohyun drops the spatula he was using to mix the frosting into the bowl.

"burn," hoya says.

"whatever," woohyun mutters. "you guys have no right to hold that against me, it was all your idea." he checks all the drawers in the kitchen, ignoring anything else the others say. "bad news, myungsoo. there's only green."

"oh my god," myungsoo sighs.

"who wants green frosting? shrek?" sungyeol scoffs. "who even bought green food dye? where are the other colors? why didn't we just buy frosting?"

they all hear the front door open.

"about time!" sungyeol calls. "what's it been, like, two hours?"

"have you even put the cake in the oven yet?" sungjong's muffled voice calls back. he comes into the kitchen with a plastic bag and dumps it on the table.

hoya opens it up and digs through it.

"hold your horses," sungjong tells him.

"I refuse," hoya quips.

"let me put the groceries away. god."

"then I'll just have to get them back out."

"this is the last time I agree to do spontaneous errands for you," sunggyu says, walking into the room with dongwoo and dumping his bag next to sungjong's.

"it was fun!" dongwoo sets the rest of the bags down as well. naturally, angel dongwoo carries most of the bags... and sunggyu and sungjong are the terrible people who let him. "plus now we have real food! and a ton of shit to put on the cake!"

myungsoo goes to him and pulls him into a tight hug, even rocking him back and forth for good measure. dongwoo just laughs and rolls with it.

"do I get a hug too? I baked you a cake," woohyun jokes but kind of means it.

"go hug sunggyu hyung," myungsoo says heartlessly.

"sunggyu hyung, I baked you a cake," woohyun tries again.

sunggyu isn't as amused, so woohyun starts throwing hearts at him with his hands.

"don't be cruel." hoya stuffs a frosting-covered finger into his mouth.

"come here and hug your bias~" woohyun sing-songs. "fanservice~"

sunggyu bends and turns away, shoulders shaking from trying not to laugh. "you really want a hug that bad?" he manages to ask.

woohyun makes grabby hands at him.

"okay..." sunggyu sounds unsure, but moves to the other side of the table. they embrace for a few moments and woohyun presses his face into the other's shoulder.

"thanks." he sneakily touches his butt with one hand before they pull apart.

"unbelievable." sunggyu rolls his eyes. he turns around and notices everybody else staring at them silently. even hoya isn't stealing frosting anymore.

"anyway..." he manages to weave his way through the crowded kitchen and leave the room.

there's silence again for a few more moments until myungsoo breaks it. "so... you don't hate each other anymore?"

woohyun just gives him a blank look.

"lately-" dongwoo starts, but it interrupted immediately.

"hey, can we talk about something else? I feel like the main character in a drama, and I haven't even been in one in a while." woohyun plasters on a fake smile. "it's too all-about-me in here."

"you  _are_ in a drama," hoya says.

"shut up about the drama thing, you bastard," woohyun says.

hoya shrugs.

* * *

XXIII. LATER THAT DAY

sunggyu returns to the kitchen once he hears a loud cheer erupt from the other side of the house.

"it's cool enough!" sungyeol whoops. "unlike sunggyu hyung!"

"I  _heard_ that," sunggyu says, announcing his presence.

"no take-backs," sungyeol mocks. hoya high-fives him. sungjong hides his smile behind his hand.

"where did all the frosting go?" woohyun asks, peering into the bowl that  _used_ to contain, like, a lot.

"he did it!" hoya and dongwoo claim simultaneously, pointing at each other.

"how could you do this to me? to us?" woohyun clutches his heart with one hand and reaches for dongwoo with the other. "I trusted you."

dongwoo doesn't even look phased by his dramatics. "we've got more ingredients, we can make more frosting."

"you mean I can make more frosting," woohyun grumbles.

"didn't want  _shrek green_ anyway," sungyeol shrugs.

"true, we wanted black."

"no we fucking didn't, kim myungsoo."

"well  _I_ did."

sunggyu, still standing in the doorway, watches the two bicker. "I vote red."

"red will stain the bowl," woohyun says.

"it's  _dye_ , won't any color?"

woohyun doesn't have anything to say to that, so he shrugs. "I'll make red. it'll look kind of pink, though."

"favoritism at its finest!" sungyeol huffs.

"you love pink." myungsoo shoots him an inquisitive glance.

"I know. it's the principle of the matter," sungyeol says.

"fine! blue it is!" woohyun starts mixing the ingredients.

a loud groan is heard from every other member.

"a blue cake? really?" sungjong says, louder than the other protests and suggestions.

"the best color for a cake," woohyun says. he slaps hoya's hand away from the bowl.

* * *

XXIV. INTERMISSION

myungsoo, dongwoo, hoya, and sunggyu are all kicked out of the kitchen while the others cook dinner after the cake is frosted.

"sungjong can at least follow instructions and sungyeol has...  _some_ talent," woohyun admits begrudgingly.

"hell yeah." sungyeol fist-pumps.

"yeah, whatever.  _we_ are going to have family game night," hoya says. "have fun slaving away."

"you're just mad you can't crack an egg properly," sungyeol says, skipping away.

"I want to eat the cake," myungsoo says.

"no sweets before dinner," woohyun tells him.

"then I want to play twister," myungsoo amends.

"no! no twister!" sunggyu quickly makes "no" motions with his arms, waving them in the air and making an x-shape with them. "I am  _not_ going up against dongwoo and hoya!"

(he ends up having no choice in the matter. he also ends up nearly falling on his face and losing three entire bets.)

* * *

XXV. INTERMISSION END

during dinner, sunggyu spends a good chunk of time whining at woohyun. he even sits right next to him so he _has_ to listen (because who else will?)

"-and why did you make me hang out with them? don't you have any idea how petty and competitive they get?" he finishes.

woohyun rolls his eyes, knowing full well how competitive and petty  _sunggyu_ gets. "you could try putting your foot down, once in a while. I know it's your life goal to let the rest of us walk all over you, but..." he snickers at sunggyu's scandalized expression.

"it's not!" sunggyu's mouth is wide open, ready to say more on just how he feels about that statement, but woohyun sticks a chunk of meat in his mouth to stop him.

"okay, okay, I'm just kidding." woohyun loves when they're like this. he _lives_ for it. it's so fun (for him.) "want a back rub, then?"

"yeah, if you're paying."

"I was going to give it to you for free by myself out of my own generosity, but I see how it is."

"be generous with your wallet, then." sunggyu smiles like he's kidding. woohyun sips his water to stop himself from smiling back, if only because he's not sure if he's supposed to or not.

"I can't believe you're just using me for my money," he says.

"wow, you _are_ married," sungjong remarks.

"eat your rice and mind your own business." woohyun sits forward in his chair, facing the table again.

"they  _did_ get married. I don't know why this is shocking." and hoya is kind of an ass sometimes. we love him anyway.

"there was no honeymoon, plus it wasn't-" sunggyu starts, but myungsoo's chopsticks clattering onto the table interrupts him.

"you're right," he whispers, looking devastated. "no honeymoon..."

"and... and other things, which don't make it legally binding... myungsoo, stop crying, it'll be alright..." sunggyu is trying really hard here, okay. he reaches over and pats myungsoo's leg.

"it doesn't have to be legal, it just has to be real," myungsoo sniffs. one tear falls down his face.

 _it wasn't_ , sunggyu and woohyun probably think simultaneously.

"if it makes you feel better-" and woohyun know he's shooting himself in the foot by saying this. he wishes he  _could_ shoot himself in the foot, for real, so he could stop himself. "-I would totally real-marry sunggyu hyung if I wasn't going to get arrested or something for it."

sunggyu shoots him a critical look. he just meets his eyes and shrugs.

"anyway, how about cake? we can get out candles and you can blow them out if you want?" woohyun is trying, too.

"it's not my birthday," myungsoo says.

"time is an illusion," woohyun responds.

"oh, okay then. sure."

well, that was easy.

after myungsoo blows out his candles - and sungyeol had to have a turn, and then hoya and dongwoo, and by then the candles are looking a little feeble - they can finally eat cake.

"I still kind of want black frosting," myungsoo says around what may be half of a piece.

"you complain a lot," sungjong mumbles.

"oh my god," hoya says,

"for the last time, a bunch of different colors would've been the best possible option." sungyeol talks over the top of the drama, saving everyone from what could have been a real fight. for all they argue, none of them really want anything beyond light banter.

"uh, objection?" woohyun raises his hand. "if  _you_ want to make a bunch of colors, that's fine with me. I'm cool with that. but I'm not doing it."

"too much for you to handle?" sunggyu goads.

" _you're_ too much for me to handle." woohyun shoves a forkful of cake into the other's mouth.

* * *

XXVI. THE NEXT DAY

woohyun wakes up first.

he doesn't know why he's up so early or why he doesn't just go back to bed, but he's awake so he may as well just stay up.

then he runs right into sunggyu as he's walking out of the room, and the only thing that occurs to him is  _oh, I wasn't the only one up._

"hey," sunggyu says. nothing like his typical _good morning_ s of a couple weeks ago, but he knows how to take what he can get. he almost forgets to respond until sunggyu has gone past him to get back into the room.

"oh. hey. are you going back to sleep?"

"I should." sunggyu looks over at him. "I would've killed to be able to sleep in an extra hour this time last year."

"it  _is_ rare. worth my weight in gold," woohyun agrees.

"that's a lot of gold."

"okay shut up, I'm pure muscle."

"do you wanna go eat breakfast with me?" sunggyu asks.

"why?" he has been faithfully respecting sunggyu's boundaries, minus a _couple_ hiccups, but he decided it was okay if sunggyu initiated anything.

"I'm not going to bite your head off... I just think we should... talk?" he stays still, waiting for affirmation.

"okay. good." woohyun swallows hard. "I've been wanting to talk to you."

"I know. me too."

they don't do anything too fancy for breakfast; just something they can throw together while they individually collect their thoughts.

they find themselves, once again, sitting at the table in the early morning, before the others are up. this time feels better.

sunggyu gets his spiel out first. he tells him again that everything woohyun said really hurt him. he still doesn't understand why woohyun would think he just wanted to give up on him, after everything they've been through. he thinks woohyun was lying when he said he wanted them to break up, and woohyun nods at that but otherwise remains silent. sunggyu finishes up by saying that he doesn't want to do anything that makes the other uncomfortable, but they  _have_ pretty much been given free reign, at least by the other members.

woohyun continues to stay silent for a while longer, first making sure the other had nothing more to add and then because his mind was simply not working right. he rubs his forehead. "it was stupid to be scared."

"no, it isn't," sunggyu interrupts. "I just wish you had-" he takes a deep breath, stopping himself from blaming the other because that's not the point of this discussion. "I wish we could have sat and thought about it. like now."

"you're being really mature, where did sunggyu hyung do?" woohyun jokes to alleviate some of the tension inside him.

"shut up, you're as much to blame as me," sunggyu snaps.

"there we go." woohyun laughs in his face. then he sobers up. "hyung... can you please forgive me? being without you is worse. I told you before, right?"

"why do I even put up with you?" sunggyu sighs.

and holds his arms out.

according to the dictionary, what woohyun does in response is launch himself at him.

"don't ever do that again unless you wanna die," sunggyu says, not referring so much to the weight in his lap but instead to the lie that started all this.

woohyun rubs their faces together because he missed being able to do that and he deserves this. "I'll die first."

"you're so weird."

"you love me~"

 

**Author's Note:**

> the part that didn't make the cut is myungsoo overhearing them in the kitchen again and crying into his udon. the reason I cut this part is I couldn't think of a good reason for him to have udon at that time of day. lol


End file.
